The Carolina Hurricanes got back on the ice for training camp on Saturday, and the fanbase immediately started complaining about the line combinations. With Seth Jarvis still comfy in a yellow non-contact jersey after offseason shoulder surgery, Rod Brind’Amour and the coaching staff put Eric Robinson on the top line to kick off the new season. Some expected a look at Jordan Martinook, while others thought the logical fit was Nikolaj Ehlers. Both make sense, but Robinson is a much tidier fit than you’d think.
Robinson’s Fit
Robinson’s major strength is his lightning speed. At a top speed of 23.60 mph, NHL Edge ranks Robinson in the 96th percentile of skaters for speed in the 2025-26 season. Ironically, Robinson’s top speed was about 0.5 mph faster than Ehlers’. He’s more than just quick on his feet, though. Robinson’s expected goals-against per 60 minutes of ice time at 5-on-5 (xGA/60) was 2.40, according to Natural Stat Trick. He’s defensively responsible enough, albeit in a lesser role with a smaller sample size, to fill a temporary hole. He’s also 6’2, so adding a bit of size to that top line is usually beneficial.
Robinson’s underrated asset is his offence. With an expected goals for per 60 (xGF/60) of 3.14 at 5-on-5, the Hurricanes generate higher-quality scoring chances with him on the ice than you’d immediately think. Worth noting: this is a fourth-line role, so he’s playing other fourth lines, but it does suggest he is an offensively capable player. He also has this unusually good ability to finish chances for a stereotypical fourth-liner. He’s broken the 10-goal mark in both seasons he’s played in Raleigh in a fourth-line role. Giving him a chance to see what he can do higher up the lineup isn’t just logical; you can argue he’s earned it through his performances.
Canes Day 1 lines:
Svechnikov-Aho-Robinson
Hall-Stankoven-Blake
Jarvis (yellow, non-contact)
Ehlers-Staal-Martinook
Deslauriers-Jankowski-Carrier
Kotkaniemi
Slavin-Chatfield
Miller-Walker
Gostisbehere-Reilly
Valimaki-Joseph
Kochetkov
Bussi
Jovanovski
— Ryan Henkel (@RyanHenkel_) September 17, 2026
Why Not the Others
Now, Ehlers is the most logical fit. Absolutely. He is a 70-point winger who just dominated the Vegas Golden Knights and had his name carved into the side of Lord Stanley. Logically, Ehlers is a great way to cover Jarvis’s absence on the top line without risking a scoring drop-off. If that’s your reasoning for wanting Ehlers on the top line, it makes complete sense.
The issue isn’t with the top line. Ehlers plays on the “dad” line, as Jarvis so elegantly called it, with Jordan Staal and Martinook. That line is the single most important to the Hurricanes, because it embodies the team. They are the engine of their relentless forecheck, the shutdown line they lean on. If it’s good, they begin the hydraulic press they call “the machine”. Ehlers turns that line from just great in zone possession and forechecking into one with a genuine offensive threat.
Ehlers was put with Staal, and Staal had his best scoring season in a decade; you can make your own conclusion. Anson Carter called him the Ferrari with the two pickup trucks during the playoffs. Moving Ehlers up removes the scoring from that line, even if someone like Bradly Nadeau replaced it. Disrupting such an important line for a short-term problem doesn’t fix the issue; it just moves it.
Eric Robinson, Carolina Hurricanes (James Guillory-Imagn Images)
Martinook is different. He doesn’t offer the same offensive upside as Ehlers. His skill set is playing “the right way”. Getting pucks in deep, winning board battles, getting pucks to the net. His game is extremely simple, and it’s why he’s the emergency blanket for Brind’Amour. Moving him changes the Hurricanes’ engine. This is different from his past elevations up the lineup card because this isn’t supposed to be a permanent solution. Jarvis is already back on the ice, so it’s a short-term fix Rod is looking for. Disrupting the middle six that led the charge to the Stanley Cup for a short-term issue relocates the problem instead of addressing it.
Creativity of the Robinson Solution
Robinson was a major part of the fourth line’s playoff success. He had eight points from the fourth line in 19 games. However, that fourth line can rotate. Nicolas Deslauriers is in the press box and can play on the fourth line, solving the problem by bringing in a solution from outside the typical lineup. Deslauriers doesn’t have much offence to offer, but he’ll be right at home being an annoying pair of fists. That means you’re not changing the integrity of that line to fix the Jarvis hole.
However, this only works if Robinson plays well. If he shows he cannot play at that level, the Hurricanes will need to consider other options. That’s where Ehlers becomes more viable, because he would be a shorter-term solution, and there is far more certainty in the Dane’s offensive output than Robinson’s. Again, it is the first day of training camp; things could change. Jarvis being back on the ice means there is a non-zero chance this is all pointless. All this goes to show that it is not the time to be freaking out about line combinations.
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